PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Miso Robotics, the leading robotics and artificial intelligence solutions company for restaurants and food providers, today announced it has secured $10 million in Series B financing led by Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTG). Strategic investors participating in this funding round include Levy, the industry-leading sports and entertainment hospitality company, OpenTable’s chief technology officer Joseph Essas, and founding investor Cali Group, as well as six members of Cali Group’s management team and its subsidiary company, CaliBurger. Miso Robotics will use the new capital to expand its suite of collaborative, adaptable robotic kitchen assistants and to broaden applications for Miso AI, the company’s machine learning cloud platform.
“We are thrilled by the growing confidence in Miso Robotics and remain committed to fulfilling our goal of modernizing the $3 trillion global prepared foods industry,” said David Zito, co-founder and CEO of Miso Robotics. “Acacia’s patent expertise and our strategic investors will be invaluable as we continue to commercialize our cutting edge technology.”
Miso Robotics’ suite of collaborative, adaptable robotic kitchen assistants and Miso AI platform are designed to boost productivity and improve food quality. This also enables restaurants and food providers to accommodate increasing customer expectations for fresher ingredients prepared quickly and consistently while keeping the cost of food down.
“The company’s unique position as a pioneer in autonomous solutions for the commercial kitchen will not only transform the modern restaurant but also will change the way we think about how food is produced and served,” said Rob Stewart, President of Acacia Research.
Miso Robotics has also appointed three members to its advisory board, including Joseph Essas, CTO of OpenTable, who will serve as a key restaurant technology advisor, Charless C. Fowlkes, associate professor of University of California at Irvine Department of Computer Science, and Dr. Aaron Ames, a world renowned roboticist and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, who will both serve as machine learning and artificial intelligence advisors.
The company will soon debut “Flippy” at CaliBurger’s Pasadena location and will roll out the autonomous robotic kitchen assistant to more than 50 CaliBurger restaurants worldwide by the end of 2019.
Editors Notes: Miso Robotics Media Kit with video and images available here.
About Miso Robotics
Miso Robotics (www.misorobotics.com) is revolutionizing the restaurant and prepared food industries with innovative robotics and artificial intelligence solutions. Miso was founded with a mission to leverage AI technology to help chefs cook food perfectly and consistently and enable restaurants to increase labor productivity, reduce costs and drive profitability while improving the overall dining experience. Miso employs a respected team of roboticists, engineers and industrial designers from Caltech, Cornell, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Art Center and UNC Chapel Hill.
About Acacia Research Corporation
Founded in 1993, Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTG) is an industry leader in patent licensing and partners with inventors and patent owners to unlock the financial value in their patented inventions. Acacia bridges the gap between invention and application, facilitating efficiency and delivering monetary rewards to the patent owner. Acacia also leverages its patent expertise and background to invest and partner in emerging disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. For more information, visit: www.acaciaresearch.com.
About Cali Group
Cali Group is a holding company that comprises CaliBurger, a global restaurant chain, and its affiliated technology companies. Cali Group's C-Vision platform ties together the various software products developed by its affiliated companies to enable the entire restaurant to be controlled from one operating system run on a tablet. Cali Group uses its CaliBurger restaurant chain to demonstrate proof of concept and lead the commercial adoption of the C-Vision platform.
About Levy
A disrupter in the premium sports and entertainment dining experience, Levy is recognized as one of the fastest growing and most critically acclaimed hospitality companies. Named one of the 10 most innovative companies in sports by Fast Company magazine, Levy’s diverse portfolio includes award-winning restaurants, iconic sports and entertainment venues, and convention centers, as well as the Super Bowl, Grammy Awards, PGA Championship, US Open Tennis Tournament, Kentucky Derby, and NHL, MLB, NBA All-Star Games. Levy subsidiary companies include E15 Group (technology and analytics), Curiology (experience design and innovation) and Rank + Rally (retail). For more, visit www.levyrestaurants.com.
